Apparatus for molding caramels and like cut-up plastic material



' Dec. 5, 1933.

A. G. ROSE 1,938,355 APPARATUS FOR MOLDING CARAMELS AND LIKE CUT-UP PLASTIC MATERIAL Filed April 5, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 1 A. G. ROSE 1,938,355

APPARATUS FOR MOLDING CARAMELS AND LIKE CUT-UP PLASTIC MATERIAL Dgc. 5, 1933.

Filed April 5, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 A. G. ROSE Deb. 5, 1933.

APPARATUS FOR MOLDING CARAMELS AND LIKE GUT-UP PLASTIC MATERIAL Filed April 5, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Dec. 5, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR MOLDING CARAMELS AND LIKE CUT-UP PLASTIC MATERIAL Alfred German Rose, Lincoln, England, assignor to Rose Brothers (Gainsborough) Limited, Gainsborough, England, a British company Application April 5, 1932, Serial No. 603,367, and in Great Britain April 23, 1931 Claims. (Cl. 107-4) This invention relates to machines for wrapby one, each with a wrapper, into a receiving ping caramels or the like and is concerned with pocket in an intermittently rotated pocketmachines of the class having a knife or other wheel. As each caramel and its wrapper is cutting device by which a bar of plastic stock moved into a pocket the wrapper is rotated 5 is cut to form caramels, and caramel-wrapping round three sides of the caramel. The pocket- 60 mechanism to which each caramel cut is dewheel then rotates intermittently to carry the livered and by which it is wrapped. In such macaramel and its wrapper to suitable folding chines difficulty has been found in ensuring that and/ or twisting mechanism which completes the the machine shall produce caramels of uniform enclosure of the caramel.

and symmetrical shape which can be wrapped The machine is provided with a pair of interto form correctly and proportioned and regumittently rotated feed rollers 10, 10 (Figures 1 larly shaped packages. It is the object of this inand 3) which feed a bar of stock from left to vention to provide a machine in which this difright (Figure l) to a cutting station. The rollficulty is overcome. ers bring the stock to rest with its end resting According to the present invention a caramelon a supporting platform 11. While the bar of 7 wrapping machine of the class set forth above stock is at rest, a caramel is cut off by a conis provided with a molding device which is 10- stantly rotating eccentric knife 12. The cut cated between the cutting device and the wrapcaramel is then fed by a reciprocating plunger ping mechanism and is arranged to receive each 13 into the position shown in chain lines in caramel cut and mold it to a definite shape be- Figure 1 in which it lies in a channel 14. 7 fore it is wrapped. Preferably, the molding de- The plunger 13 is supported intermediate its vice comprises a mold-box which is open at one ends on the top of a lever 15 (Figure 3) and at end and a reciprocating plunger which is arits front end on a lever 16 which is pivoted on ranged to feed caramels one by one into the the machine frame at 1'7. The lever 15 is pivoted 5 mold-box and to constitute a movable wall of at 18 at one end of a two-armed lever 19 which 30 the mold-box by which molding pressure is apis pivoted on the machine frame at 20. The lever plied to the caramel in the box. The mold-box 19 carries a roller held in engagement with a may be formed with two movable walls op cam 22 by a spring 23. The lever 15 is secured posite one another and means for moving said to a lever 24 which is connected by a rod 25 to walls after each molding operation, to open the a strap 26 mounted on an eccentric 27. The cam box temporarily on two opposite sides, and there 22 and eccentric 27 are mounted on a constantly is provided an additional reciprocating plunger rotating shaft 28. As theeccentric 27 rotates it arranged to move, at right angles to the path of rocks the levers 24 and 15 and thus reciprocates the first plunger, through one of said openings the plunger 13. While the plunger 13 is moving 5 and eject the molded caramel through the opfrom left to right (Figure 3) the lever 19 is held posite opening to the wrapping mechanism. in the position shown in which its roller co- A caramel-wrapping machine embodying the operates with a portion 22a of the cam 22. When above and other features of the present invention the plunger reaches its extreme right-hand posiwill now be described by way of example only tion, the roller 21 passes on to a portion 22b 40 with reference to the accompany drawings, in of the cam and the lever 19 is rocked by the spring which: 23 and lowers the lever 15, thus lowering the Figure 1 is a plan showing cutting and moldend of the plunger 13 which passes through a ing mechanism employed in the machine, cerslot 29 in the supporting platform 11 so that tain parts being omitted for sake of clearness, the plunger returns below the level of the plat- 45 and form. This allows of the feed rollers being re- 10 Figures 2, 3 and 4 are vertical cross-sections started so as to feed the stock forward without through the mechanism shown in Figure 1 on the waiting until the plunger has returned to its leftlines 22, 33 and 4-4 respectively of that hand position.

figure. The channel 14 is formed with a horizontal 50 Like reference numerals indicate like parts in base 30, two fixed side walls 31, 32 and a top wall all the figures of the drawings. 33. The top wall 33 has been omitted from Fig- The invention has been illustrated by way of we 1 for the sake of clearness. The right-hand example as applied to a machine of the known end (Figure 1) of the channel 14 is closed by a kind in which a succession of caramels are sevstop piece 34 and the side walls 31 and 32 are v 5 ered from a bar of plastic stock and are fed one cut away to the left of this stop piece so as to provide openings on the opposite sides of the channel. These openings may be closed by a forkshaped member having a pair of upstanding parallel wall elements (Figures 2 and 4) joined together at their lower ends and secured to a rod 36. When this member is raised from the position shown, it closes the openings in the side walls of the channel and, together with the base and top of the channel and the stop piece, forms a mold-box for the caramels. The rod 36 is mounted to slide vertically in bearings 37 and 38 and a collar 39 is secured to it. A block 41 is pivoted at one end of a bell-crank lever 42 and is held between two extensions of the collar 39 between which it can slide. The bellcrank 42 is pivoted at 43 and is connected by a rod 44 to a lever 45 which is pivoted at 46 in the machine frame. The lever 45 carries a roller 47 which engages a cam track 48 in a cam 49. The cam 49 is secured to the shaft 28 and the cam track is shaped so that the lever45 is rocked and rocks the bell-crank lever 42 which in turn raises and lowers the side walls 35' of the moldbox.

The caramel is pushed into the mold-box by a pusher 50 (Figures 1 and 2) which is mounted at one end on a lever 51 pivoted at 52 and intermediate its ends on a lever 53 pivoted at 54. The lever 53 is connected by a rod 55 to the free end of a lever 56 which is pivoted at 5'7. This lever carries a roller 58 which engages a track 59 in a cam 60 secured on the shaft 28. The cam 60 is arranged to oscillate the lever 53 and reciprocate the plunger 50 and is so shaped that the plunger dwells when in its extreme left-hand position.

The caramels after being molded are ejected from the mold-box by a plunger 61 which is pivoted on the upper end of a lever 62. This lever is pivoted at 63 and is pivoted to one end of a rod 64. The other end of this rod is forked and its fork ends 65 engage the opposite sides of a sleeve 66 on the shaft 28 so that this sleeve supports the rod 65 at this end. The rod 64 carries a roller 67 engaging in a cam track 68 of a box cam 69. The cam 69 reciprocates the lever 62 and therefore the plunger 61. The plunger 61 carries a roller 70 engaged with a cam track 71 formed in a bearing 73 for the shaft '72 on which the knife 12 is supported. The cam track 72 is so shaped as to cause the operative end of the plunger 61 to move along a straight path.

The operation of the mechanism will now be described, it being assumed that the parts are initially in the position shown in the drawings, a caramel having been cut off and fed into the channel 14 is shown in Figure 1. The plungers 13 and 61 have reached the end of their movement and are being retracted by their respective cams. Concurrently the plunger 50 is' being moved from left to right (Figures 1 and 2) and is moving the caramel into the mold-box. The plunger 61 is fully retracted before the caramel enters the mold-box and the side walls 35 of the mold-box will be raised by the cam 49 acting through the linkage described so that by the time the caramel has been moved fully into the moldbox the side walls 35 will be fully raised, completely enclosing the mold-box. The plunger 50 constitutes a movable wall for the mold-box and at the end of its stroke presses the caramel against the stop piece 34 and applies pressure to the caramel so that the caramel is caused to take the shape of the mold-box.

The plunger 50 is then retracted by its cam 59 and the side walls 35, which have been held in their upper position by their cam 49 during the molding operation, are moved down until their tops are on a level with or slightly below the top or" the base 30. The plunger 61 has meanwhile been held in its retracted position by a concentric portion of its cam 68. As soon as the side walls have fully lowered, the plunger 61 is advanced and passes through the openings provided by the side walls, pushing the caramel into a pocket '75 of the pocket-wheel 76. Prior to the ejection of the caramel from the mold a wrapping paper 77 is fed between the mold and the pocket-wheel 76 and its end is cut off by a suitable knife, not shown, so as to form a wrapper. As the caramel passes into the pocket it carries with it the wrapper which has just been cut off which in a known manner is wrapped round three sides of the caramel.

During these operations, the feed rollers 10 are feeding the stock forward'and the knife 12 will cutoff a new caramel. As the plunger 50 reaches the end of its stroke the plunger 13 is raised to its upper position by its cam 22 and is moved forward by the eccentric 27 so as to move the freshly cut caramel into the channel 14. It will be understood that the movements of the plungers 13 and 50 are so timed that the plunger 50 will reach its retracted position before the plunger 13 has moved the caramel into the channel 14 and will dwell in its retracted position until the caramel has been fully moved into the channel 14. As soon as the pocketwheel '76 has received a caramel it moves one step to carry this caramel to the folding and/0r twisting mechanism of the machine and to bring a new pocket 75 opposite the mold-box. This sequence of operations is then repeated.

I claim:

1. A caramel-wrapping machine having a cutting device for cutting a bar of stock into separate caramels, a fixed mold-box open at one end, a plunger mounted to reciprocate into and out of the mold-box and mechanisms for feeding each caramel cut into position to be moved by 120 the plunger into the mold box and compressed therein.

2. A caramel-wrapping machine having a cutting device for cutting caramels from a bar of stock, a mold-box open on three of its sides, two opposed walls arranged to close two opposed openings in the Inold-box,areciprocating plunger, mechanism for operating the plunger to move a caramel into the box. and mold it therein, mechanism for moving the two walls to open the box on opposite sides temporarily after a caramel has been molded and a second plunger movable through one of the said openings to eject the caramel through the other of the said openings.

3. A caramel-wrapping machine having a cut ter for cutting caramels from a bar of stock, a mold-box open at one side and having two opposed movable walls extending at right angles to the open side, two reciprocating plungers, caramel feeding mechanism for moving a caramel cut into the path of one of said plungers, operating mechanism for actuating said plunger to move the caramel into the mold-box and compress it therein, mechanism for moving the said walls-to open opposed sides of the box and mechanism for moving the second plunger at right angles to the first plunger through one of the opposed open sides of the box to eject the caramel therefrom. v

4. A caramel wrapping machine having a 150 a molded caramel through the other opposed open side.

5. A caramel wrapping machine having a cutting device for cutting a bar of stock into separate caramels, a fixed mold-box open at one end, a plunger mounted to reciprocate into and out of the mold-box and arranged to feed each caramel cut into the mold-box and to compress it therein, and mechanism for ejecting each caramel from the mold-box.

ALFRED GERMAN ROSE. 

